The Walking Dead Season 3: A New Frontier

My first ever experience of Telltale Games was the original Walking Dead game they produced back in 2012. I had never had any desire to play a Telltale Game before that as my perception of their games was that they were nothing more than an interactive storybook. And whilst my perception was pretty much on the mark, as far as interactive storybooks go, Telltale do do what they do bloody well. Season One as an awesome addition to the ever expanding world of Robert Kirkman’s zombie apocalypse.

Sadly I missed out on Season 2, but have recently jumped into the first two chapters of Season 3 courtesy of Telltale Games.

This third season follows the journey of Javier, who is trying to survive along with Kate, his sister-in-law, and her two tweenage kids. This is interesting as I had assumed that I would be following the continued adventures of Clementine, and had been looking forward to this. But, Telltale had other ideas, and being that they are experienced in this story telling lark, it works out quite good, as to begin with your responses are more likely to be shooting from the hip as you have zero emotional connection to Javier, which means that as your relationship grows and you get a feel for who you are, you’ll start thinking more and it seems to be a much more natural way to story immersion.

Of course Clementine is in the game, hell she just about cuts you in half with a shotgun early on, but outside of flashbacks is not a playable character. It’s a nice little mechanic that connects you with the original story, whilst allowing you to experience a whole new story.

And it’s the story that matters after-all, as this is an interactive storybook, albeit one that feels like it’s on steroids. Once you start to care about Javier, your cavalier attitude soon gives way to wanting to make measured choices when you have precious few seconds to decide between one of up to four options. It’s a simple game mechanic that easily makes the simplest of decisions into a knife edge of uncertainty, and ramps up the stories adrenaline factor.

For me, TellTale have done it again, only two episodes in and I’m hooked, I’m loving being back in Kirkman’s world, feeling like I’m in control of the destiny of one man an his family.

But I feel it’s only fair to stress that I’ve not enjoyed other TellTale games, as they have to be approached in the same was as reading a book, if the story just isn’t your thing, the game aint going to grab you. If you like zombies, especially The Walking Dead, then yes, jump into TellTale’s world. If not, tread with caution.